Things to Do in Niagara Falls & Around

Dublin residents are passionate about sport, and the Aviva stadium is the pulsing epicenter of Rugby Union and football (soccer). This 51,700-person stadium holds Ireland’s largest sporting events and concerts, and tours are available on days that don’t have a concert or large-scale event. Aside from being a popular venue, Aviva Stadium also holds a bit of Dublin history, as back in 1873, this was the site of one of the world’s first international sporting contests. Rugby matches were held on the grounds between regional teams in Ireland, and the Lansdowne grounds held international contests in 1878. Originally built as a multi-purpose venue for cricket, rugby, and athletics, Aviva Stadium is best known today as the site of Irish football. It’s also the site of superstar concerts, with big name acts such as Rihanna, Neil Diamond, and Michael Jackson having performed at Aviva’s grounds. 

The Avenue of Stars, located on the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, is Hong Kong’s answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hong Kong film industry has enjoyed a long history as the third largest in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood, and as the second largest exporter of movies, many of Hong Kong’s locales and celebrities have become familiar to foreign audiences who’ve never stepped foot in the city.

Along the quarter-mile (440 meter) stretch, you’ll notice a large replica of the statue presented to winners of the Hong Kong Film Awards as well as a bronze statue of Hong Kong’s most famous celebrity, Bruce Lee. Star-shaped plaques inlaid into the promenade contain names and sometimes autographs and handprints of other industry celebrities.

Even if you’re not familiar with the Hong Kong film industry, a visit to the Avenue of Stars will reward you with unobstructed panoramic views of the Hong Kong Island skyline in front of Victoria Peak. It’s also a perfect spot to view the nightly Symphony of Lights performance across the harbor.

The Avenue of Sphinxes was the site of ceremonial processions and originally connected the temples of Luxor and Karnak, although it is considerably more recent than either of those sites, dating to around 380 BC. It stretched some 1.5 miles (2.7 kilometers) and would once have had 1,350 sphinxes lining its sides. Around half of those have been uncovered, with many reworked by later civilizations or sitting in museums. Much of the avenue itself is covered by modern buildings.

There are dozens of examples in various states of preservation forming the immediate approach to each temple. Some of them bear the cat-like features of the famous Great Sphinx at Giza, others have rams’ heads. The entire avenue is the subject of a major ongoing excavation project.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is the resting place for some 1.5 million people, as the site once served as a concentration camp and extermination site of the European Jewish community during World War II. Today, Auschwitz-Birkenau is an important historical area, allowing visitors to reflect on the monumental horrors that occurred during the genocide.

The Basics

Auschwitz-Birkenau tours take visitors through some of the 13 surviving prison blocks that now feature museum exhibitions, many dedicated to victims and displaying documentary photographs and historical artifacts. In addition the main camp, a much larger camp called Birkenau (or Auschwitz II) sits about 1.25 miles (2 kilometers) to the west. This site has been left almost exactly as it was when the Nazis abandoned it at the end of the war, complete with gas chamber ruins, and is also considered a part of the UNESCO-listed Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. An official visitor’s center can be found at the entrance to Auschwitz I.

The two sites are often visited together on group or private tours from Krakow Old Town, available in a number of languages and generally including transport between the memorial areas, plus hotel pickup and drop-off or airport transfers. It's recommended that travelers allot about 90 minutes for each of the sites. A visit is also sometimes combined with a trip to the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Things to Know Before You Go

• Cell phones are not allowed in the permanent exhibition buildings.
  
• The ability to take photos varies by area, although it is not allowed in Room 5 of Block 4 or in the cellars of Block 11. Flash units and tripods are not allowed.
  
• The maximum size of any baggage carried in is 11.8x8x4 inches (30x20x10 cm).
  
• The museum discourages visits from children under the age of 14.
  
• While wheelchairs are available for use at the visitor's center, strollers may only be used outside of the blocks and other structures in Auschwitz I.
  
• The memorial is closed on January 1, Easter Sunday, and Christmas.
  

One of the most expensive strips of real estate in Latin America, Avenida Paulista is São Paulo’s most iconic thoroughfare. What started out as a residential street lined with the ornate neoclassical mansions of 19th-century coffee barons has, in a little over a century, turned into an urban canyon of glass and steel and a modern hub of business, culture and entertainment.

Anchored on one end by busy Shopping Paulista mall and on the other by multi-use architectural standout Conjunto Nacional—vaguely reminiscent of the famed congress building in Brasília—, Avenida Paulista serves as the address for many of the city’s most important cultural institutions, including the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), lush Parque Trianon and the Casa das Rosas arts center (located in one of the last mansions remaining on the street).

Though several hundred thousand denizens file into Avenida Paulista’s office buildings every weekday, the street remains lively come nightfall, when restaurants and nightclubs along cross-streets in the adjacent neighborhoods of Jardins and Bela Vista fill with diners and party-goers. Anything goes on buzzing Rua Augusta, one of the city’s liveliest nighttime haunts, and even more goes on Rua Frei Caneca, epicenter of São Paulo’s gay and lesbian scene. Sunday afternoons, craft fairs and flea markets spring up at the foot of the MASP as families stroll along the strip, and throughout the year, big events such as the world’s largest gay pride parade (May/June), the renowned São Silvestre road race (December 31st), and New Year’s Eve celebrations bring a few million people into the area.

Aventine Hill is one of Rome’s famous seven hills. It’s the southernmost hill, located on the eastern bank of the Tiber River. This hill is important in the myths involved with the founding of Rome. The brothers, Romulus and Remus, each chose one of the area’s hills on which to found a city. Remus chose the Aventine Hill, but it was his brother Romulus (set up on the nearby Palatine Hill) who saw more signs (supposedly from the gods) and who goes on to found the city of Rome.

In Ancient Rome, the Aventine Hill was the site of a Temple of Diana, but today the hill is mainly a relatively quiet and wealthy residential district with a few churches and gardens worth checking out, plus one of the most interesting views of St. Peter’s Basilica you’ll see in Rome.

Spots worth visiting on the Aventine Hill include the 5th century church of Santa Sabina, the rose garden, the orange garden, and the famous “keyhole” view of St. Peter’s Basilica at the building housing the Knights of Malta. The Circus Maximus is to one side of the Aventine Hill.